Mt. Vernon's Randy Stephens (l.) and Jarrel Marshall (r.) reach for a rebound in their 55-54 win over South Shore.Denis Gostev

Mount Vernon’s previous three wins have come by a combined 132 points. Coach Bob Cimmino was far more pleased with the Knights’ latest victory, though it came by a just a point, 55-54, over PSAL Brooklyn AA power South Shore in the Big Apple Basketball High School Invitational at Baruch College Saturday night.

“We needed that,” Cimmino said. “Right now we think a little bit too much about our league victories. We needed to get beat up and they were a big, physical team.”

“It’s not good on my stomach,” he later added, “but it’s better for my team.”

The defending New York State Federation Class AA champion actually led by 10 points in the second quarter, but found itself trailing the loaded Vikings (12-6) late in the fourth quarter after Wayne Martin scored off a Terrence Samuel feed with 3:12 remaining. Josh Doughty gave the Knights (8-1) the lead for the moment with a tough turnaround jump shot in the lane.

After Shamiek Sheppard made one of two free throws, Isaiah Cousins (15 points, seven rebounds, four assists) set up William Robinson for a layup and after Sheppard’s alley-oop slam, Cousins created off the dribble again and found Robinson, who was fouled with 12.5 seconds left. Robinson made one of two free throws, but Cousins was there for the offensive rebound and sank two free throws to put the game away.

“He’s become a great floor leader for us,” Cimmino said.

Cousins said beating a team of South Shore’s caliber is a confidence boost. The Knights always like testing themselves against the city’s best this time of year,

“Every kid in our program knows you go downtown if you want to get better,” Cimmino said.

Wings routs Vaux, survives chippy play: Billy Turnage just wanted to get his team into the locker room.

It got chippy late in Wings Academy’s 71-40 drubbing of Robert Vaux (Pa.) at the Big Apple Basketball High School Invitational at Baruch College on Saturday. Turnage, the Wings coach, felt like the Vaux players were taking cheap shots at this players and intentionally trying to hurt star Justin Jenkins.

“That was uncalled for,” Turnage said.

Wings got a police escort to their locker room and Big Apple Basketball officials did a good job making sure the two teams could not continue the physicality off the court.

On the court, it was another positive showing from Wings (16-2). Jenkins had 19 points, Marv Berroa had 14 points and Steven Gomez and Jaequan Brown each had 11 points in the rout. That’s the formula, Turnage said.

“We need that,” he said. “That’s the kind of balance if we’re going to make a run at this thing.”

Most impressive for the Wings might have been their work on the defensive end. It was a joint effort holding Vaux stud Ryhseed Jordan to just 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Jordan, a 6-foot-4 guard, is a top-50 consensus player nationally and has offers from St. John’s and North Carolina State.

“I thought we did a good job on the Jordan kid,” Turnage said.

Wings was supposed to face St. Benedict Prep on Monday at the Planet Athlete MLK showcase, but the coach said the game was scrapped when he was told New York State Federation rules prohibited teams from playing St. Ben’s, because it is not sanctioned by its state association. The Wings will still be busy, facingJohn F. Kennedy on Tuesday, Eagle Academy on Thursday and Wadleigh on Friday.

“I call this Hell Week,” Turnage said.

Academy of the New Church (Pa.) 51, Long Island Lutheran 47: Ryan DeNicola had 13 points and Brandon Alford had 11 points for LuHi in defeat. Dinjiyl Walker had 20 points and Marcus Gilbert had 16 points for Academy of the New Church.